WHEW. It got HOT today.
I opened every single window and hatch in the rig as well as the front door, but the more the day marched on, the more Miranda felt like an oven and the cats drooped. I finally shut everything tight and put the AC on low (remember, I’m on 15A). Even at that setting it is a real miracle, having taken the temperature in here down almost ten degrees in less than a half hour. I’m going to run it for a bit longer. The cats are very grateful! I started up the AC and went to the library, where the unit is located, to make sure it was running, then came back to the study to find both cats staring up at the cooling vents very gratefully. They have perked up, had their dinner. and are now napping comfortably.
When I did my big rig clean last week, I made a point of vacuuming all my vents and the AC unit, so it’s clean, purring, and not spewing out clouds of dust!
If it was just me in here, I would probably swelter before putting on the AC, but the two little souls who share these living quarters really need it, so I put it on for them. I’m glad I can provide that for them.
Right. Better put that air on for those poor cats! *snort*. OK, maybe I shouldn’t give you a hard time. In my case I could be completely pet free and still put on the air. Spent far too many nights in a hot apartment in the days of my youth to even entertain the notion of sweltering. Just ain’t gonna happen. Been there, done that, didn’t want the T-shirt.
I must say, the weather just about everywhere in North America has been kinda freaky. Not quite the apocalypse, (seems we dodged that bullet) but a bit extreme just the same. In Ontario it’s gone from cold and wet to hot and steamy. Not sure I’m looking forward to returning to that. I’m just saying.
This is when (for you) it’s nice to have hook-ups, even if it’s only 15 amps.
Bob, AC is expensive, it uses up an entire circuit, and it means there’s no fresh air circulating in the rig. Moreover, I can go for a walk or have a drink to cool down. The cats are defenseless against heat. You obviously don’t have any.
The weather has been getting freakier and freakier…
Rae,
I run my A/C on 15amp service all the time with no problems. You probably already know this, but just in case, you do need to watch your voltage with some kind of a meter like this one
http://www.pacificrvparts.com/ProductDetail.asp?ProductID=25653&StoreID=14&DepartmentID=65&CategoryID=46
If your voltage goes below about 110 you can damage the A/C motor by overheating it. The less voltage the more amps it will pull causing more heat. Electric motors are designed to run on 115 to 120 volts plus or minus 10%.
You can reduce your electricity usage by putting the fridge and water heater on gas when the A/C is on.
Take care, Gary
Gary, I shut off the water heater (it only has one setting) the very rare time I run the AC on 15A, but I hadn’t thought to put the fridge to propane! Thanks!
I never thought to get a voltage metre, so I will add that to my ‘to-buy’ list. 🙂
Hi, Rae, Enjoy your blog. You’re my hero!
I discovered something years ago when I was suffering from heatstroke at a music festival in the BC Interior. We were all camped in a big field, no trees/shelter. I was throwing-up-sick all the second day of the festival, they were medivacking people with sunstroke out by helicopter. I was lying down in my Toyota Landcruiser stationwagon trying not to barf, in which I’d built a bed, and it was obviously hotter inside than out. I thought if I draped a cotton sheet over the top of the truck and tented it on both sides over the open doors I might make some portable shade and cool the air before it got to me. Big discovery — just the sheet covering the metal roof cooled the truck down instantly I’d say at least 15 degrees. I know you’ve got a much larger vehicle than I had, but I wonder if covering at least part of the vehicle would reduce the air conditioning load.
Another trick learned in Dawson City where it was 95F one summer when we were all footsore waitroids in non-air-conditioned restos and in our house: don’t discount the cooling power of feet soaking in a basin of cold water. Also cold water over your wrists, wet cloth on foreheard and around your neck. And there’s always the spray water bottle trick. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.
But I do agree re pets. I have for real air conditioning in my Blazer and I have it on for my dog on the rare occasions I take him with me.
Did you ever find any more work? Something else I used to do is stuff flyers in newspapers — go to a community newspaper printer — they usually have all kinds of work like that, especially in the runup to any seasonal events or holidays/long weekends. I’m in the same boat here in the southern Ontario countryside. Transcription is dead, dead, dead.
Barbara, your first line made me LOL
You made my point for me: people can do myriad things to make themselves cooler in hot weather, but pets are pretty much defenseless.
I have been getting in some work and I completely disagree that transcription is dead. It’s the fastest growing sector in my business and I’m almost ready to give up the translation contract search and focus just on transcription.
Holeee, who do you get work from!?!?!? I’ve sent out so many letters and resumes and not a single person has ever gotten back to me. I do legal, medical, everything, have done for 15 years here and in Italy, where I did work for the EU, FAO/UN, International Criminal Court, Italian MFA, RAI, etc. Yes, I’m a linguistic dolt, but I can read Italian, French and Spanish sufficiently to follow along on the original documents so I know when the translator has skipped something. But here? Phht. No one is interested.
I do however draw the line at working for minimum wage, which is what most of the people I have worked for here pay and/or I see offered. I also draw the line at employers screaming abuse on the telephone and in cc’d emails.
Five more years and it’s Freedom 65 pour moi.
I troll Craigslist and Elance for contracts. For general transcription, my rate is $60 per audio hour (which comes out to about $15 per hour worked), but I’m willing to go as low as $40 per audio hour ($10/hour) when I’m on Elance (where I also drastically reduce my translation rate to get work). The people who aren’t willing to pay that aren’t worth working for.
Check out this post: http://travelswithmiranda.uskeba.ca/?p=9593
Also apply here if you haven’t done so already: http://www.accutranglobal.com/jobs.html I never heard back from them, but you seem to have a lot more experience so you might stand a chance.
I’ve been slowly catching up on all your posts, and I did see that one. I subscribed to Genuine Jobs, but most of them seem to be from the US. I sent in a response last week to a job listing looking for graphite portrait artists, which I’ve done for 30 or 40 years. The guy NEVER responded. I noticed that he was also trolling Kijiji looking for portrait artists, exact same ad. Dunno what that was all about.
People are probably going to get really bored reading us going on about jobs when you started out talking about air conditioning.
To get back on topic, I’ve found that if it gets too hot my desktop computer won’t work — the hard drive fans (there are two!) can’t handle anything over 90F with humidity. Do you find that with a laptop? Or do those gel pads keep them cool enough to keep working? I’m looking at trading in my Blazer and getting either a small RV or a van I can renovate, and take off with dog, jewellery biz and laptop computer in tow and hit the market circuit which I had hoped to be doing by now this year, but I kind of got in my own way.
I’m reading the Accutranglobal site now. Full of typos. Lovely! D’ya think maybe it’s a test and they only hire people who point them all out? ;-p Gaaaaah.
Most of my clients are in the US. If the posting isn’t for a job but rather a contract, then there is no problem. I much prefer dealing with Americans since I don’t have to worry about invoicing them for GST or HST.
It’s my blog, we can talk about anything we want. 😉
I haven’t had a problem with it being so hot my computer wouldn’t work. Yesterday it did get quite hot, so I just reduced the number of apps I had going to slow down the processor. I don’t know anything about gel pads.
“I kind of got in my own way” is very refreshing; so few people take responsibility for their choices. Good luck!
As for Accutran, who knows except that it’s a legit gig. 🙂
Well, okay, I may as well apply and see if they get back to me. I put in several years doing nothing but financials. I have heard about some online transcription companies that are ones to avoid and it’s nice to hear about the good ones. Did you ever hear anything more from that lady who was giving you grief about delaying paying you (the PayPal post)? I’m trying to be diplomatic here…
Barbara, good luck with Accutran!
As for your question: http://travelswithmiranda.uskeba.ca/?p=12447 🙂
I hadn’t found the one about dealing with a fraudulent client. Sheesh. I would’ve been so frickin’ pissed off! Good info on how to report a scammer, though. Thanks for that. That paypal person reeeeally sounds like someone I once worked for (the screamer/email cc-er).
Just talked to my landlord who is waiting to take delivery of a Ford van for me to look at — a possible candidate for renovation.
What made me the most angry was that I had plenty of evidence for calling her a scammer and she tried to make me out to be the bad guy. Oh, well, I prevailed! 😀
Ooh… you’ll need to start a blog about that. 🙂
Hi, Rae, Our internet provider took a direct lightning hit on one of their transmission silos (Silo.ca) in a huge monsoon/thunder/lightning storm that sat on top of us for at least an hour early this morning, and so no Internet this morning. At the library here, their network is down, but so far so good, the public computers are up, if slow to load pages. I can’t get over how absolutely devastating it is to not be able to check email and read newspapers first thing! I actually had to do dishes, sweep, print and trim business cards. Like… work! Ick.
I’d write about it, but I’m afraid to get too vocal, because I’d never know who ended up reading it. I think though that there should be a clearing house for Internet job site scammers of all types, sort of an internet Better Business Bureau. Have you ever run across one?
I have one minute left here. Gotta hit send and run.
B
Barabara, all I will say is that I have no issue with recognizing that I am an internet addict. 🙂
Check out: http://www.ivetriedthat.com/ I subscribe to the newsletter.
Good luck with your internet drought. 😉
Wow, what an interestig site. I noticed that there are all these data entry postings on Genuinejobs…
The Internet just came back up here. I can very clearly remember thinking waaay back in the spring of 1995 when I was at McGill, like, what’s the big deal with email and what IS the Internet? What could anyone possibly DO on there? I barely knew half a dozen people who’d ever sent or received an email at that point. I was member number 3 at the first Internet cafe that opened in Rome in October 1995, the second in all of Italy.
You have to be careful on Genuinejobs since there is no filtering. I never pay attention to data entry jobs; they are all scams.
I started on the internet in 1996 and knew within an hour that my life had changed.
I agree with you about the Internet being life-changing — digital files! Who woulda thunk?!?!?! It amazes me how there are still so many people who don’t understand the concept of working from home and how it’s possible, and for sure don’t believe I’m actually working at a real live job. Oh, hi, Mom! The last guy I was seeing — after two+ years we’d actually mentioned the “M” word — dumped me because, direct quote here: “I hate the way you blow me off every time you get work.” What?????
I think I’ll pass on the Accutran people. They may truly be a good company to work for, but I have a problem with so many typos, not to mention wading through endless pages of gushy writing. There are only two things I need to know: the deadline and if it’s verbatim or cleaned up. A three-minute typing test will tell them everything they need to know about my, or anyone’s, ability. I’ve proofed enough documents to know that’s all it takes — which is why I don’t do proofreading anymore. I can retranscribe the file faster than it would take to correct the mistakes.
It would be nice to make the leap into making/selling jewellery and buying/selling stones full time, and have the typing as backup. It’s now contributing a significant percentage to my annual income, but still not sufficient to quit my day job.
Reminds me of those busy-bodies at the RV park in Osoyoos. One criticized me for ‘burning the midnight oil’ and I said I was working. She scoffed and said “What kind of job needs you to be up at midnight?!” Um, maybe the kind that lets me choose my own schedule and work from home?
Good luck with the jewelery business; it sounds like something that could be successful on the road.
If you check out Szarka’s bio at http://www.magpiegemstones.com you’ll see how successful jewellery+road can be. She’s Canadian, too, from Calgary.
I recently came across the term “cognitive dissonance”, which means the ability to hold two distinctly opposing thoughts in one’s head at the same time. These busy-bodies sure have that in spades. Are they imagining the people who are working serving them when they’re in restaurants or stores on weekends and at night/after 5pm, or do they imagine that no one is working at the tv station when they’re watching? Etc??? Ewch… I’ve met so many people like that, yet their attitude of “there’s something suspicious/wrong about you if you work odd hours or do an uncommon job” never fails to astound me, especially these days.
Max is trying to convince me to take him out for a walk — no way. Far too hot already. Nice in here, though, for now. All the windows and doors shut tight.
Got some typing in. Yay. Guy with a strong accent. Not yay.
I see a lot of people who are successfully in the jewelery business. It’s definitely not right for me; I have zero interest in jewelry.
“Cognitive dissonance” is a very astute observation! I think that my nephew’s generation will have an easier time holding uncommon jobs with uncommon schedules.
I’m about to head out to deliver fliers. Hopefully the rain will hold off!
I can handle a number of strong accents so long as they are not using a lot of regional slang. I did one recently with a guy from Eastern Europe. Once I got into his cadence, it was fine.
I have zero interest in jewellery myself. I got into for totally different reasons (you can read about it at http://www.barbaramacdougall.com), found out I’m, if not good at it, I make interesting stuff (but that still makes no difference to sales, though — no money in this area here) and I still rarely wear it. In fact, after two years of nagging on the part of my friends I finally got my ears re-pierced 20 years after they grew in so I could wear my own earrings. Wearing jewellery irritates me so much that I wear things until they don’t bug me, and that’s become a selling point among repeat customers. It’s actually pretty funny.
I used to work for geologists, so I’m familiar with a lot of terminology and overview of mining, etc. That’s more my approach, my primary interest is in the stones themselves. They really are beautiful.
This guy mumbles a lot, and he’s an old guy, too. But luckily the interviewer can’t understand him either, so he’s always asking him to repeat his answers. When I do the proofing, I’ll pick most of it up.
When I hear about cool/unusual jobs, especially those that didn’t even exist when I was in my 20s/30s, I really wish I could do them, too. I’m finding this stage of my life is a time of focusing in and being more conscious of and ruthless with myself about sloughing off time-wasters (activities and people). My back and knee are really slowing me down, too, which really, really sucks.
Good luck with the rain holding off. Buon lavoro!
I don’t think I could build a home business on something that I’m not excited about. That’s why the sales field is definitely not for me!
I wear a pendant around my neck, which I never take off, but that’s it!
I can understand the interest in the stones; I really enjoyed the few geology classes I had.
I’m working on a terrible file right now. I’ve put it through a number of processes to clean it up, but there are still way more inaudibles than I’m comfortable submitting. 🙁
Grazie! Ho molto lavoro!*
(*I understand Italian much better than I speak it. *g*)
It turns out I’m actually a good salesperson — IF I’m interested in what I’m selling, and for being such a recluse I actually do like to talk to people. Because I’ve worked almost my whole life as a contractor, I’ve had to be able to become good at selling within seconds myself/my services to a total stranger who often doesn’t even know what they want or need; all they know is they or their business is up a creek and they are in major panic mode.
I basically fix things — in fact, that’s what I’ve done my whole life. Figuring out how to market myself and get my foot in the door, as opposed to being seen as a recognisable piece of paper, has always been — and I hate the word — the challenge. Once I can find someone who gets it and trusts me, then I do extremely well. My six-week contract drafting job with the geologists turned into years of doing anything and everything BUT drafting.
At the moment, jewellery is simply the vehicle — it could be anything. I solve people’s design/wearability problems, whether it’s something broken, lost, fit, etc. That part of it I get off on. There’s absolutely nothing like having someone go away happy. With considerable emphasis on “go away” — I’m very much into being by myself. Living alone out here in the country, the Saturday market has pretty much become my only social outlet these days, most of my friends being in other parts of the country/world.
Which playback program do you use? I’ve been using Express Scribe from NCH for years. It has a fantastic volume increase program and two types of filter/noise reduction programs to play with. I’ve tried Gear Player, or whatever it’s called, and really like some of the features, but I’ve heard from some people that they can’t play around and clean up sound with it. I dunno. Anyway, I really like Express Scribe. And it’s free.
I’m a linguistic dolt. For some reason I can understand French, Italian and some Spanish (Montreal French is an open book to me, while impenetrable to my Parisian-French-speaking pals) and read them even better, but speaking is impossible. I do a lot of drawing, using my hands and noise-making when I’m with someone who doesn’t speak English and I don’t know any of their language. We sure have a ton of fun, though. I love travelling more than anything, and it makes me so sick and disgusted with myself that I haven’t done anywhere near as much of it in my life as I’d wanted to. More of that getting in my own way/baaaaaaaaaaaaaad decisions…
I forgot to reply to this last one, Barbara. Sorry! I’m the same way when it comes to sales. I have to really believe in the product and not feel like I’m selling.
I use Express Scribe, too. LOVE NCH. I use their FREE accounting package for my business–time keeping (HourGuard), ExpressInvoice, and Express Accounts. I also use Audacity to do more thorough file scrubbing and tweaking.
I’ve been exposed to a lot of languages. I’m getting some serious wanderlust to explore The Rest of the World and hope to start doing so in my 40’s!
My 40s is when I finally got going on my dreams of travel. I went to McGill (living in Montreal was always one of my life dreams) where I got my BA in 2.5 years at 43, took a 2-week ESL course, went to Italy for 2 weeks, found two jobs and stayed 3 years. Unfortunately, my dad died which really threw me for a loop and I ended up coming back to Canada for “a year”. B-I-I-I-I-I-G mistake. When I wrecked my knee, scraping the former tenant’s crud a hardwood floor of all things, I was trapped here. When it finally got better after four years (idiot, idiot GP sending me to the wrong specialists) (did I say idiot?) (IDIOT), surgery (the surgeon was great) and endless physio that permanently wrecked my knee (more IDIOTS), I got front-ended by a moron who professed to not know that she had to have her brakes regularly serviced. She lost them coming down a hill, had to be doing 90 through a green light and ploughed into me while I was waiting for the guy in front of me to make a left turn. Her truck destroyed my precious Beretta, drove the engine into the dash which drove into my knees and spun my car around, so now I had whiplash on top of not being able to walk for another two years. Plus she almost killed her three kids and herself.
Long story short, I can walk without pain now, but not quickly, nor can I run or dance or bend my knees or kneel down (I’m missing half my kneecap, it’s eggshell thin now) — or fall down. I can’t stand in one place for more than 10 minutes at a time. And I canNOT do stairs. So no subways and most living accommodation is out. And it exacerbated the old back damage incurred when a hit-and-run driver in a stolen car hit me on my bike and I went flying through the air, landing on my tailbone. I live most days feeling like I have shards of glass in my lower spine. Robax Platinum is my friend.
Travel is the best thing in the world as far as I’m concerned, and I am so frickin’ sorry I didn’t do more of it. Moral of the story is do what you want to do NOW. Don’t wait for later, because later may never arrive. “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans” may be trite, but it’s also very, very true. I still dream of going back to Italy, of going to Nepal, Tibet, South America, Siberia… Mountains and wilderness being the common denominator. Ha, ha and ha.
Eh, well… I have transcriptions to proof, then a meeting with my Let’s Eat Cake buddy at noon to discuss our collaboration, finally drop off my art gallery gift shop application only a month and a half late, and take stuff to the consignment store — really, Rae, you have inspired me, and getting rid of all my crap is the first step!